Battle in Sudan’s capital risks awakening war in Darfur
- Darfuris fear another major explosion of warfare amid a power struggle between Sudan’s army and a rival paramilitary force
- The Darfur conflict, which started around 2003, caused some 300,000 deaths and a massive humanitarian crisis
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Darfur inhabitants fear battles between Sudan’s rival military leaders could reawaken war in the vast and largely desert region already scarred by a two-decade-old conflict.
The Darfur conflict originated around 2003-2004, pitting rebels against government forces backed by horse-riding militia known as “Janjaweed” in violence that killed some 300,000 people and uprooted millions from their homes.
Despite repeated peace deals, the conflict has simmered ever since, with violence rising in the past two years.
So when Sudan’s army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary, who had been ruling together during a political transition, began shooting at each other earlier this month in Khartoum, the violence quickly spread to Darfur.
Residents and sources have reported pillaging, ethnic reprisal attacks, and clashes between the two military factions in various population centres around the farming and nomadic region that is roughly the size of France.
Local mediation has helped cool the strife in the main cities of Nyala and al-Fashir, but shelling and looting have continued in the town of Geneina, leaving Darfuris fearing another major explosion of warfare.